


after the storm (a fresh start)

by subject_layla



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Hopefull Ending, Kinda, No beta we die like woman, Post-Canon, Post-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Post-Season/Series 03, Pre-Relationship, can be read as platonic, ml salt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:08:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22298338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/subject_layla/pseuds/subject_layla
Summary: After the defeat of Hawkmoth, Adrien felt like he lost everything and the worst thing was that it was his fault. If only he stayed on Marinette's side when the whole Lila's thing happened... but it was too late now.Now he had nothing. Hawkmoth was revealed and his name was dragged with the brand and everything related. No one wanted to be at his side anymore. Only Nino and Alya called and even them didn't sound like before. Kagami tried, but her family didn't want her anywhere close to him. It was good, he supposed, while it lasted. Adrien Agreste was a nobody now. Worse. He was the son of a supervillain.Truly a black cat.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 1
Kudos: 116





	after the storm (a fresh start)

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, there! This is my first time writing for this fandom (in english at least) and I didn't even saw most of season 3, but I was inspired and this is a way to practice the language. So hope you enjoy! R&R <3

Adrien used to believe that he was destined to do great things. Back then, when he was younger and so so naive. Back then, when blue was the most beautiful color he ever saw because of her irises. Back then, when the nightfall and he was the king in black leather, and she was his lady, his queen. His everything.

He believed in miracles, no pun intended, and how could he not? But that was then. Today, she didn't look at him in the eyes. The Big Reveal was a mess, messier than he ever thought it would be, and the hurt in her eyes...

The Black Cat could feel it too, through his body, sending shivers. He was not her king. He couldn't even be her knight anymore.

Sometimes, Plagg said, the bad luck was overwhelming. There was nothing a holder could do. If, and only if, the good luck wanted, he could be at her side again. But Ladybug was never going to want him back, not after he abandoned her. Not after he let her be alone, even when he promised to be at her side and sooner after, let her be consumed by the dark.

But she was much stronger than Hawkmoth gave her credit for. She didn't succumb, like many before her, she didn't let the darkness consume her. She fought back.

And like every other time, she won. And that was when he realized. Marinette. Ladybug. The same girl. And she knew it was him too. He didn't even know how, but she knew.

Since then, they didn't talk anymore. Patrols were quiet and solitary. She didn't change school but asked to be transferred to another class. He lost her. Alya, Nino. The whole class lost her. Before the reveal, she said that was this girl, a liar, that hurt her so much...

And he did nothing. He was the boy that she used to have a crush on. He was so stupid.

Now he had nothing. Hawkmoth was revealed and his name was dragged with the brand and everything related. No one wanted to be at his side anymore. Only Nino and Alya called and even them didn't sound like before. Kagami tried, but her family didn't want her anywhere close to him. It was good, he supposed, while it lasted. Adrien Agreste was a nobody now. Worse. He was the son of a supervillain.

And the only person he wanted by his side didn't want him anymore.

"I knew I would find you here", her voice sounded like a symphony. His ears, the cat ones, piked the sound with hope. His heart jumped, but he didn't turn around. He was too afraid. What if she vanished? If she was just an illusion of his tired mind trying not to destroy itself. "Nino is worried about you. He called me."

"I'll call him", he said and his voice didn't sound like his anymore.

"Alya too." She sat beside him, looking at the city in front of them. He didn't notice her wince at the name of her old best friend. Alya and Marinette didn't talk to each other anymore.

"I'll talk to her."

"I am worried about you," she said as it was easy as breathing. Like they were fifteen again and this was way simpler.

"You shouldn't. I'm fine."

"I used to say the same thing before... You know." He heard her breath, the slow and heavy sigh. "It's okay not to be fine. No one will blame you."

Adrien looked at her. Her uniform changed, it was more fashionable now, more Marinette. The pigtails were longer, but her civilian hair was shorter, he knew that because sometimes he would watch her work, it was easy to make excuses and see her from afar. Mostly because she worked at his father's brand and sometimes he could use the whole "son of Gabriel Agreste" just to skip a few hours of work. The Ladybug now looked like a grown-up woman, even if she had only seventeen, the polka-dotted spandex giving space to some black areas, around her waist, arms, and boots. It made her waist look thinner, but it wasn't sexualized. He heard her saying that she didn't want to feel like an object, he imagined that as a designer she knew better.

"I should know." He whispered, half hissing. "For years! We fought him for years and I'd never imagined!"

She sat beside him.

"Alya show me your photo one day. Photoshopped with a catsuit and cat ears... It was our first year" she tould and for the first time, he looked at her face, her eyes drifting in parisian skyline. "I said to her that you couldn't be Chat Noir. For me, it was impossible. Back then, I thought I knew you, but I was just another stupid girl pretending to be in love, I guess."

"You were never stupid, milady" he said, because what else? If anything, he felt like the stupid one. He called her everyday Ladybug, for God's sake!

"My point is: you couldn't know. It's magic, Chat. We don't know for sure how it works, and it might be a little convenient at times, but it helped us too. What if someone discovered our identities? What if Hawk Moth knew for sure who we are?"

"He knew about me."

"No, he didn't. He was not sure, and that doubt worked on our favor."

His mind traveled back to the exact instant when Hawk Moth knew it was over. The second he realized that he was fighting his son, the instant of hesitation, the one moment Ladybug took advantage to take his miraculous and end the reign of terror. Once and for all.

But Mayura was never captured. She vanished, along with Natalie. And he knew that they were the same, even if the magic told him it couldn't be.

They stood in silence. The breeze comforting theirs faces, the peaceful horizon so promising, so hopefull. Adrien wished he could feel it too.

"And I have something for you" her voice broke the silence. "Maybe I could undo the damage made by the Peacock miraculous, but I cannot translate the book by myself and there's only so much I can comprehend in chinese..."

"You can heal my mother" he whispered and it sounded like a question. His hope made her heart cringe.

"Maybe. I truly don't know, but there's a chance and I thought you should know."

"What's the catch?"

"We'll need the peacock miraculous. Only restoring it we could undo the sickness caused."

"I... thank you" he murmured. His eyes shining with unleashed tears, he put his hand above hers. "I truly don't deserve you."

"You deserve better, kitty" he saw her eyes, blue and bright, and felt like it was the first time. Kitty. He missed the nickname. She never complained about his "milady", but after the reveal, she stopped calling him. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you."

"Milady..." he interrupted. "Marinette... You have nothing to apologize for, okay? You were hurt and I didn't see it. I should be the one apologising."

"Don't. Let's just put this behind now."

"Sound like a plan," he said, half smiling.

This was a new beginning and he would make it right this time.


End file.
